


Working for that Happily Ever After

by monstermasks



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: BAMF Stiles, Fluff, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Next Generation, Pack Feels, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-31 06:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12676245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monstermasks/pseuds/monstermasks
Summary: They all go away to college because of course they do.  Even if the kids he'd taken in weren't all bright and smart and driven (or trying really hard anyway, sorry Scott) they were all young, and young people aren't ready to put down the kind of roots that pack needs. Not yet anyway. So they leave, which Derek had expected. He just hadn't expected some of them to not come back.In which Derek's bunch of teenage drama queens grow up, and Stiles grows up most of all.





	Working for that Happily Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> The slapdash result of a recent unfortunate obsession with Sterek fics and a really, truly boring class. It's been a few years since I've written any fanfic and even longer since I've posted soooo... sorry if it's terrible?
> 
> Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me and exactly zero hours of research went into the making of this fluff. Sorry not sorry.

They all go away to college because of course they do. Even if the kids he'd taken in weren't all bright and smart and driven (or trying really hard anyway, sorry Scott), they were all  _young,_ and young people aren't ready to put down the kind of roots that pack needs. Not yet anyway. So they all leave, which Derek had expected. After the Nemeton was dealt with (courtesy of Stiles, Lydia and Deaton) it wasn't such a big deal to not have the pack immediately within his reach. His wolf isn't very happy, but most of them are less than an hour away, they visit plenty, and it's not like he was the most cheerful person on earth to begin with. He had expected them all to go... he just hadn't expected only some of them to come back.

 

Stiles had gone to college on a full-ride scholarship on the other side of the country. He came back regularly for visits and always answered his phone when there was a problem. 'Researcher' wasn't exactly a site-specific role anyway, so it was fine. Now when he visits he sometimes has a new rune inked into his skin and the scent of magic wrapped around him like a cloak. Totally fine. He often smells like a strange coven and sometimes like other packs. Derek is so utterly fine with this. He congratulates himself often on how fine and not-a-problem it is that _his_ Stiles is off consorting with wolves and witches while he's away from his pack. He is fine. Obviously.

 

Then Stiles goes to the Academy and doesn't visit so often. His work schedule is insane because on top of the Academy workload he's building up a small agency on the side, helping people out with supernatural problems. He misses Christmas that year because of some important case with a kelpie or something. Whatever, it's not like he never comes home and he will  _always_ be pack, so what's a few years? Derek makes sure to tell himself this a few times, just to make sure it sticks. When Stiles positively thrives in the Academy and graduates top of his class he lets them know he's coming back for a full month to celebrate. The pack is ecstatic and Derek finds himself almost as giddy as his pups. Finally, the whole pack is going to be home.

 

When Stiles strides into town like a fucking panther, all lean muscles and dangerous eyes, the punch of lust Derek feels is almost enough to make him stumble. He tries very, very hard to ignore the proud smirks that Scott sends his way. He has more important things to do anyway. Like finding the fastest possible way to cover Stiles in pack-scent without stripping bare and rubbing all over him. The fact that that particularly thought is more distraction than it should be is irrelevant. Scott can go suck it.

 

The next month is one of the best of Derek's life. The pack runs together just like they should, the preserve full of laughter and wolves and flashing eyes once again. If the level of snark and sarcasm sky-rocket now that Stiles is back well, it was Derek's pack. Anyone who had expected them to act with dignity and respect clearly hadn't spent enough time with him.

 

He watches Stiles wrestle with Scott, winning almost effortlessly, and his mouth goes dry.

He watches Stiles make iridescent butterflies flutter about the pups and his heart feels like it's going to explode out of his chest.

He watches Stiles calmly unsheathe a hidden knife and throw it dead centre at the target and has to excuse himself because even he can acknowledge that having a hard-on at a weapons demonstration is wildly inappropriate.

 

The thing is that Stiles just  _fits_. Scott is his brother in everything but blood. Lydia is his future co-ruler of the world, if the terrifying plans Derek overhears sometimes are to be believed (he does). Allison likes to have loud, casual conversations about the best way to take down a larger opponent with him, probably just to make the wolves all wince. Isaac loves to hug him, Boyd to cook with him, Erica to tease him. The whole pack enjoys watching Jackson and him snark-off because it's truly inspiring. Within five minutes of meeting the next generation 'Uncle Stiles' is the pups's favourite. Stiles always seems to know where everyone is, knows how to make sure that no one is ever left out, makes sure everyone belongs.  _He would make an amazing Alpha-mate,_ whispers a small, unfortunate part of Derek's mind (well, he's pretty sure it's his mind).

Derek never, ever wants him to leave.

 

So, naturally, he does. The glorious, laughter-filled month ends and when Stiles packs up his bags and hits the road it feels like he takes all of the sunshine with him. The pups are inconsolable for days. Derek is (very quietly) inconsolable for weeks. But it's still fine, it's still ok, it's not like he's fallen off the edge of the world, they hear from Stiles all the time. He calls and skypes and texts every single pack member; funny stories about work or the supernatural jobs he's still doing on the side. Long, rambling discussions of people that Derek has never met and places he's never been. He overhears (ok, so he was eavesdropping, sue him) Scott teasing Stiles about someone called Ryan and has to awkwardly admit to himself that he wants to tear this strange man's throat out. With his teeth. Other than the occasional boughts of murderous rage when Stiles's various partners are mentioned (apparently DC is just brimming with people who want to bang Stiles and Derek, despite himself, can't even blame them), it's just  _Stiles._ Hearing about Stile's day and getting to see him on skype makes the whole den warmer, makes the pack feel closer, makes Derek's lonely life look brighter.

 

Derek is startled to realize one day that the amount of calls he and Stiles exchange has increased until he is hearing Stiles's endearing ramble almost every day. Sometimes during Stiles's lunch hour he gets quick updates ("Did you know that faeries are real? No seriously, why did no one fucking warm me that Tink was out and about in Washington making a nuisance of herself with her  _pointy fucking teeth?_ ") which leave Derek smiling like an idiot all afternoon. It's the late night calls he truly loves though. Quiet talks about real things or soft things or true things. Talks that have Derek cradling the phone to his ear with both hands like it's made of glass, closing his eyes like he is. Hours and hours of Stiles's voice in his ear leave Derek with hope burning like a brand in his chest.

 

One night, right in the middle of a conversation about something else entirely (Derek doesn't understand how Stiles's brain can do that, think on so many levels at once), Stiles says "You know why I needed to leave, don't you?"

"You didn't  _need_ to." Derek protests, but he's thinking about a skinny 16-year-old kid, thrown into a wold he had no preparation for, working his fingers down to the bone to keep them all safe, to make a space for himself, and he understands why Stiles might have  _wanted_ to.

"Maybe not, Sourwolf, but I'm glad I did." Stiles says, sounding amused. Derek takes a breathe, loses his nerve and has to take another before he can ask the question he's wanted to since the first time Stiles left.

"When are you coming back?"

There's a long pause before Stiles sighs. "I don't know. Soon, probably."

Derek tries desperately to lower his expectations and fails miserably. Tries not to fill his voice with joy and fails at that too.

"Good."

"I miss you." Stile blurts out suddenly and hangs up, and Derek finds himself thinking about how it had almost sounding like three other words instead.

 

Stiles comes back for Christmas and Derek feels like the Grinch the way his heart seems to grow three sizes to have all of his family here. He spends a lot of time smiling helplessly at Stiles whenever they're in the same room and Isaac notices, because of course he does, and tells Scott, because  _of course he does._ Which is how he and Stiles end up under a sprig of mistletoe (plastic, obviously). Derek reminds himself that he is an Alpha werewolf and that he's surely done harder things in his life than this, then kisses Stiles right in the middle of whatever deflective joke he'd been making. Stiles goes still, for once, and then molds himself into Derek's hold. Derek kind of wants to cry, the way this man fits so perfectly in his arms. It's easy to ignore the wolf-whistles (somebody thinks they're funny) from the pack when Stiles finally pulls back and smiles at him. His cheeks are flushed and his eyes look like warm whisky and Derek is so, so in love with this amazing person.

"Soon," Stiles murmurs and it sounds like a promise.

 

A few months later Derek notices that the small office that's been up for sale since New Years has been sold, then forgets about it.

He goes in to talk to Sheriff Stilinski a week or so later, sees that he's packing boxes and arguing on the phone to someone and decides to come back another day.

Allison and Scott miss the next pack get together because they apparently have to buy paint and furniture. Derek had thought that they'd finished renovating their house but he guesses that there is always room for improvement.

He sees the moving van drive into town and doesn't think twice about it.

He  _does_ notice that Stiles has less and less time to talk now, that he always seems stressed but excited, and tries not to let the paranoia drive him insane. Probably just a new case Stiles is involved in. Probably not a new partner that's beautiful and clever and everything that Stiles deserves. Probably.

Derek is so busy not-worrying about this development that he goes along with Scott's suggestion of a pack barbecue for next Sunday. He is too not-anxious to be concerned by Scott's odd insistence that he arrives at 3 o'clock exactly.

 

On Sunday he walks into Scott and Allison's house and realizes three things immediately:

1\. There is a 'Welcome Home' banner on the wall

2\. He is an idiot and Scott is the worst Beta in the world

3\. He has zero control over what's about to happen

Then he strides over to Stiles, who is smiling nervously at him from the centre of the room, and kisses him hard enough that he will (hopefully) never want to leave ever again. The pack bursts into applause and Stiles laughs into his mouth, hands coming up to curl around Derek's neck and into his hair. Eventually Derek pulls back just enough to rest his forehead against Stiles's, his breathing not quite right. Stiles is grinning helplessly back at him and his eyes look suspiciously wet.

"You're staying?" Derek asks (well, ok, sort of demands).

"I'm staying." Stiles agrees.

 

                                              **3 months later**

 

 

"But you said you were staying," Derek says. He doesn't whine, because he is a powerful Alpha wolf and not a child, but it's a close thing. His definitely-not-a-whine still earns him a laugh from Stiles though.

"I  _am_ staying, Sourwolf, a week long trip to sort out a case doesn't mean I'm leaving." Stiles's business, the Red Hood Agency, has gone from strength to strength taking jobs all over the country consulting on supernatural cases. Stiles does most of the work remotely, sending out his contacts as needed (Derek loves that Stiles spent college and the Academy building up a portfolio of contacts instead of getting drunk at frat parties. It's just such a Stiles thing to do) and very occasionally going himself. A week though!

 

"You're coming back," Derek demands, because if he didn't demand he'd beg.

"Derek," Stiles says, exasperated, "I'm planning on staying here,  _with you_ , for the rest of my life. Now go let me hunt wendigos."

Derek lets out a breath, relieved and just a little smug. It's good to know that the ring in his sock drawer isn't a step too far. 

"Ok fine, go hunt wendigos. Then come back to me so that we can make a start on the rest of our lives."

 

 


End file.
